Patriots Beat: Welker is the Pats' little big man

Even as Boston mayor Thomas Menino wore Vince Wilfork’s jersey on Wednesday, he managed to put the dominant defensive tackle in the same bin o’ malapropism with "KJ," "Hondo," and "Varitek splitting the uprights." Wilfork is now "Wilcock." And listen up, everybody, "Gonk" is hurt. Good thing these Patriots have "Wekler."

Even as Boston mayor Thomas Menino wore Vince Wilfork’s jersey on Wednesday, he managed to put the dominant defensive tackle in the same bin o’ malapropism with "KJ," "Hondo," and "Varitek splitting the uprights."

Wilfork is now "Wilcock." And listen up, everybody, "Gonk" is hurt. Good thing these Patriots have "Wekler."

Much like a certain Notre Dame linebacker’s girlfriend, Wekler doesn’t exist. But his alter-ego, Wes Welker, does. And he has been, is currently, and will possibly continue to be an invaluable cog in New England’s offensive operation.

It should come as no surprise that, besides Tom Brady himself, the 5-foot-9, 185-pound dynamo has been arguably the most irreplaceable member of the league’s longest-running aerial assault.

Welker has a good idea how he has been able to not only survive but to thrive as a smaller man in a league of giants.

"I think the two key things are being tough and being smart," said Welker, who suffered a torn ACL in the final game of 2009 but was back for the entire 2010 season. "Being able to take those hits and do all of those things, and at the same time being smart and understanding what the defense is doing and being able to attack it in a certain way where you can maybe make those windows just a little bit bigger where you are not taking those hits and things like that.

"I would attribute it to being tough and being smart and really understanding the game."

Welker has been so consistently productive that he is often an afterthought. For example, in Baltimore on Thursday, Ravens defensive coordinator Dean Pees was asked questions about all of the Patriots’ offensive weapons except Welker. Last week, Texans defensive coordinator Wade Phillips had a slip of the tongue when he said Welker was "not real athletic."

Welker’s contract took center stage in the offseason. His play has spoken for itself during the season. He is playing on a one-year franchise tag this year, valued at $9.4 million. And there is a possibility that the Patriots will sign Welker, who turns 32 in May, to another franchise tag next year. However it plays out, the team would have to have some kind of Ace in the hole to let Welker walk and think the Patriots’ offensive operation will keep chugging along.

This was supposedly the year Welker was getting phased out, according to conspiracy theorists. After being targeted just five times in the opener in Tennessee, it looked like there might be something to the whispers. They eventually got even quieter. After being designated the team’s franchise player, Welker’s indispensability was on display in a year when Julian Edelman, Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski missed a combined 19 games.

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Edelman may be a Welker in waiting with a style all his own, but he was placed on season-ending IR on Dec. 4 after injuring his foot. And electric as Edelman can be in the return game, as a pass-catcher, the fourth-year man has just 69 career receptions on 108 targets (63.89 percent success rate) for 714 yards and four TDs.

That’s half a season for Welker, with a lower completion percentage.

Welker finished up this year with 118 catches – the fourth time in five years he’s broken the century mark – on a career-high 174 targets. And that catch total was only his third-best with the Patriots (his best was 123 in 2009). He also had 1,354 yards and six touchdowns in a season that the Patriots employed the hurry-up offense more than they had in previous years.

The postseason version of Welker is just as prolific, the latest example being his eight-grab, 131-yard output vs. the Texans. That came with little shiner under his left eye, a prize he said he earned during Sunday's virtuoso performance.

Brady has played 23 postseason games, and has had Welker for only eight of them. Yet Welker has caught a team-record 61 balls, an average of 7.63 a contest. It took Troy Brown 20 postseason games (14 of them with Brady) to grab 58 receptions, and Deion Branch 13 games with Brady to get to 54 catches and a team-record 836 yards.

Welker took his share of heat – from Gisele, even – after last year’s Super Bowl when he and Brady couldn’t connect for what would have been a Super Bowl-clinching first down. Welker was disconsolate after the game, but the throw and catch bore equal blame.

Given the 77.22 percent completion rate when the ball is thrown his way in the postseason, that near-miss was like a .230 hitter lacing a playoff triple. Don’t count on it happening too often.

To ensure the production continues, Welker’s not letting any distractions get in his way.

"We just go about our business and do our jobs and just kind of go from there," Welker said. "We can’t really worry about anything outside of that."

The Celtics still have "KJ and Hondo," and the Patriots still have "Wekler." If you get your name mispronounced by Mayor Menino, you must be doing something right.

Tim Whelan Jr. can be reached at 508-626-4402 or twhelan@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @thattimwhelan.